How Stoicism Can Help With Memory Issues

As we grow older we suffer from memory issues and become forgetful. Very often certain items seem to disappear. We put our things somewhere but after a few hours, we can’t remember where that thing is. This happens because the memory is not working at its peak as we are not able to retrieve recent information because of previous memories. The short term memory is a challenge for senior citizens and people with mental illness.

The memory allows you to distinguish between the things that happened with you and the things that you were thinking about. After an incident is over, you should be able to recall the facts you believe rather than what people said to you about that incident. This depends on your ability to recall the incident as such.

According to many studies and researches, mindfulness meditation techniques help in improving the memory of an individual. The researchers have identified plenty of positive effects of mindfulness on the human brain. And, one of those benefits is improved memory. While meditation techniques are followed by monks around the world, you don’t have to become one for discovering mindfulness meditation and practicing it. The mindfulness meditation can be practiced by anyone regardless of the age-children, middle-aged person or even older people. When it is practiced on a regular basis, you can reap the benefits of it that include enhanced memory and focus.

When you practice Stoic philosophy with mindfulness meditation, you are able to focus the mind better. This helps in solidifying the concepts in your memory. Stoicism allows you to gain a non-judgmental awareness of your surroundings, feelings and emotions. When you are mindful, your focus is on one subject at any given time. So, you are aware of the present moment and are able to take decisions without thinking about the outcomes. Stoicism greatly helps with issues of memory as it is linked to improved cognition and discernment.

Self Awareness

For many years, there has been a lot of research on mindfulness in various settings. It has indicated that mindfulness practice affects the physical structure of the brain and its functioning related to inhibition, reasoning and decision-making. Mindfulness makes you attentive to the present moment that includes all the events and experiences. In addition the practice of Stoic philosophy also allows you to be aware when you are shifting your attention from inner self to the outer world. When you are mindful, you are in a state of consciousness that consists of attention and awareness.

The self-awareness through Stoicism helps in identifying the things we forget. If you want to understand mindfulness, you have to observe yourself during your communication with others. This kind of awareness contributes to self-awareness. The Stoic training strengthens self-awareness and allows you to recognize your emotions and how your experience in the present moment affects your feelings and response. So, mindfulness increases your self-awareness by developing the habit of understanding and monitoring the emotions.

The mindful self-awareness can also help in identifying if there are any chronic issues that are affecting your memory and if they have to be addressed. So, Stoicism helps you to be self-aware of your circumstances and in turn self-awareness helps in identifying what we can forget.

Lifestyle Changes

The changes in the life of a person have a great impact on memory. The cognitive consistency and your perception of the events affect the choice you make. When you think of changing your job, it gives positive as well as negative effects. It stresses out the brain, affecting your decision making. Certain lifestyle changes like a new job can be exciting for many people but you need to deal with new problems. This excitement can easily transform into stress and panic. The stress of a new job or having kids can directly affect your memory.

Stress causes plenty of changes in many areas of the brain. Over-secretion of hormones can impair recall memory and can cause damage. Stress also affects cognitive functioning and other memory functions of the brain. So, it is necessary to reduce stress for getting long term benefits. Stoic practice greatly helps in reducing stress and making the right decisions. You might make some adjustments to ensure that your memory functions well.

Wrong Perceptions

When your personal productivity is taking a hit and you are not giving results as intended, you look for new methods and systems to make the situations better. You think of the issues that are making you unproductive. In most of the cases, you are not productive because of lack of focus. Being attentive to your surroundings is very important if you want to perform better. No matter what happens, you need to get the things done. It might be difficult to work efficiently but if you can manage your focus, you can become productive again.

The lack of focus will also have negative effects on your memory. You will recall something that never really happened or you will recall the things differently. Sometimes you will not be able to recollect the things completely. The distorted recollection of the event or situation can lead to confusion and might have dire consequences.

The practice of Stoicim is nothing but the cultivation of awareness of the present moment. It has a lot of positive effects on cognition. When you are able to focus on one thing at a time, you will be able to recall things better. You will be aware that you are lacking focus on the present moment. After knowing the level of your attention span, you can take a break for some time and then continue with your work.

Reduced Stress

Stress is one of the major causes of numerous illnesses. Stress is everywhere – at work, at home, due to issues with your co-workers, family members, friends or financial problems. Stress can also be because of lack of sleep. If you want to be productive the next day, you need to sleep well. You will also be able to concentrate better on your tasks after getting better sleep.

Stress is very common as the events happening around you can easily stress you out. Stress will definitely affect your feelings, thoughts and your entire body. Stress, if ignored, can lead to various health problems like diabetes, high BP, heart disease, etc. If you have stress, you will also not be able to think clearly as it causes various changes in the body. In stressful situations, you will neither be able to predict anything nor have control over the events. This will negatively affect memory and in many cases, you will not be able to recall properly. There is a link between memory and stress. Many studies have shown that long-term stress can greatly change the brain’s structure, especially in the memory areas.

Negative Emotions

Negative emotions are the feelings that always make you sad and miserable. The negative emotions include anger, sadness, jealousy and anger. The negative emotions can be sometimes natural but they take away your confidence. If you continuously deal with negative emotions, you can become anxious and stressed. Negative emotions like anger can stop you from thinking and make right judgments. You will not be able to see the situations in true perspective as you will see what you want to and remember only those things what you want to remember. This will cause anger and prevent you from living your life to the fullest.

The negative emotions can be detrimental to proper memory function. As negative emotions make us uncomfortable, we try to avoid them regularly. This also happens with memory. You will not want to remember the situations that made you angry and uncomfortable. You need to adopt a strategy that will help you to accept and process those negative emotions. The practice of Stoicism can increase self-awareness, which will help you know how your body is responding to stress and negative emotions. You can then take the steps accordingly to accept the negative emotions by focusing on increasing the self-compassion.

Memory problems can be really annoying but you have to accept that you can become forgetful at some point in your life. You need to find ways to boost your memory power so that you are able to recall the things better. It has been scientifically proven that mindfulness meditation helps in enhancing concentration levels and improving memory. Stress can actually accelerate the memory loss but once you start practicing Stoicism, you would notice lots of positive changes in the body. When you practice it regularly, mental functions like learning, memory and concentrations will improve, allowing you to be more attentive and aware of the present moment.